The rural problem in one post

A new operator in a public detailing forum laid it out well. Their towns average about 150 to 2,000 people each, and they wanted a 100-mile radius so those towns could get service at all. They floated $1 a mile and worried it was too much. Their bigger worry was overcharging local customers to cover the long drives.

That’s the right worry. Your base prices (see how much to charge) should cover a local job. The cost of the long drive belongs on the long job.

What the drive really costs you

The IRS bases its business mileage rate on a yearly study of the fixed and variable costs of running a car. For 2026 it is 72.5 cents a mile from January to June and 76 cents from July 1. It’s a tax figure, not a pricing rule. Still, it’s a clean, public number for what a mile costs a vehicle. A loaded van or a truck pulling a trailer likely costs more (see trunk, van or trailer).

Fuel is the part that moves fastest. In the week of October 5, 2026, EIA put regular gas at $4.417 a gallon in its Rocky Mountain region, which includes Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. That was $1.351 more than a year earlier. Diesel was $6.267. A fee you set last fall may already be short.

The IRS rate also leaves out your time. One reply in that thread called the rate a floor, since it covers wear and tear, not your time. If the 100-mile run takes three hours round trip, those are three hours you aren’t detailing.

What detailers publish

Travel policies from operators’ own pages, checked 2026-10-09. The last two rows apply our arithmetic for a job 50 or 100 miles out (one way).

Operator (area) Free zone Fee beyond it 50 miles out 100 miles out
MacValley Enterprise (Lawrence, MA) 15 miles $1.25 per additional mile $43.75 $106.25
A-1 Mobile Auto Detailing (Point Roberts to Everett) 30 miles $40 flat $40 $40
T&P Detailing (Missoula, MT) Primary area $45.99 out-of-county flat $45.99 $45.99
ZS Mobile Detailing (Marietta, OH) Most customers within 45 miles Small fee, quoted at booking Quoted Quoted
Dakota’s Detailing (Northwest Arkansas) 25 miles Not listed n/a n/a
IRS rate, round trip (76¢ x 2 legs) none 76¢ per mile $76 $152

Two patterns stand out. Per-mile fees scale with the drive, and flat fees don’t. At 100 miles out, the Missoula operator’s flat fee covers about 30% of the IRS round-trip cost ($45.99 of $152). That’s fine for a shop whose out-of-county jobs are short, and risky for one whose whole map is long drives.

Three ways to price a big map

1. Zones with stepped fees. Draw rings from your base: say, no fee in town, one flat fee for the next ring, a bigger one for the far ring. Price each ring off its round-trip miles at the IRS rate plus your drive time. Customers can see their fee before they call. A commenter in the same thread suggested exactly this: one price under 15 miles, then tiers.

2. Minimums by zone. Another commenter sets a minimum job size by travel time: below a certain dollar amount, they can’t make the trip. A far-zone minimum lets a big job absorb the drive without a separate fee line. A basic wash 90 miles out rarely pays; a full detail or a maintenance plan visit might.

3. Route days. One metro detailer charges the same menu everywhere and groups outer-ring jobs by area on standing days, so one drive covers several cars. That works even better in farm country. Book every job in one town onto the same day, and split or waive the fee when two or more cars book together, as the forum poster planned to do.

Most rural operators will mix all three. Whatever you pick, put the rules on your booking page in plain numbers. Surprise fees are one of the traps in our booking mistakes guide.

A quick worked check

Say a customer is 100 miles out. Round trip: 200 miles x $0.76 = $152 for the vehicle. Add three hours of drive time at whatever you pay yourself per hour. If your fee plus the job’s margin doesn’t clear that, raise the far-zone fee, raise its minimum, or only go on a route day when other cars are booked.

Weather cuts rural days short too, so plan the long routes for your best months (see winter detailing). If a fee change lands on regulars, raise prices the gentle way.

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